In the Christian Liturgical Calendar, today is Childermas, also known as the "Feast of the Innocents." It's the day during the Twelve Days of Christmas* when we remember the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem by King Herod. In the Secular Liturgical Calendar (for lack of a better name), this Saturday is World Healing Day, when we remember all the people in the world who need healing.
Today, I'm thinking about the children around the world who continue to be hurt and killed by those in power. I'm praying for healing for the children of Rwanda, Darfur, Iraq, Iran, Zimbabwe, and North Korea.
I'm also praying for the scores of children who suffer from our government's well-intended sanctions regimes. As I wrote in July of 2004, I almost died of dysentery when I was child, and I feel a particular kinship with the children who lack clean drinking water because our sanctions make it impossible for their governments to adequately maintain their water purification plants. I also feel an affinity for the refugee children living in squalid camps -- particularly those in Africa, my first home.
Of course, there are also the children in my neighborhood who suffer because of their parents' bad choices (or outright abuse), and I do what I can for those within my sphere of influence. But today I'm thinking more globally. I'm sending my prayers out to the world's "innocents," be they in Bethlehem or Baghdad.
* The Twelve Days of Christmas are the days between Christmas and Epiphany, inclusive — that is, Christmas and the eleven days following.